By John Harrington

From the age of seven, David Power would travel to Croke Park with his father Michael for the All-Ireland Football Final ever year.

His own native Tipperary were never part of the big day, but the young David couldn’t help but notice that once upon a time the Premier County very much was a football power.

There they were in the honours list with four All-Ireland senior titles to their name which to this day still puts them ahead of footballing strongholds like Mayo, Tyrone, and Donegal.

Seeing that Roll of Honour lit a spark in the young Power. If Tipperary football could be the best in the country at one time, then why not again?

That belief in the possibilities of Tipperary football inspired him to get involved coaching development squads in the county while he was still in his early twenties.

In 2011, when the Tipperary minor footballers became the first football team from the county to win an All-Ireland title since they achieved it in the same age grade in 1934, Power was the team manager.

For the first time in a long time, the Premier County had a newly inked entry in an All-Ireland Final match programme roll of honour that had once fired a young Power’s imagination and ambition.

He remains a true believer in the idea that Tipperary football teams should be able to mix it with the very best and he made the dream a reality once more by leading the county senior team to their first Munster title in 85 years two weekends ago.

When he sat down to talk with the media to preview this Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo, the Tipperary team manager didn’t even try to disguise his confidence this his players are now ready to take another giant leap forward.

As a boy David Power took a seat in Croke Park to watch teams from other counties contest the All-Ireland Senior Final.

In 2020, he believes he’ll be standing on the sideline when Tipperary compete in one for the first time in 100 years.

***

Q: Has the good will generated by the Munster Final win given everyone in the camp a huge lift going into the All-Ireland semi-final?

David Power: To be honest with you, some of the phone calls and texts that I got, from all corners of the country, from players that won several All-Irelands down in Kerry, and the big satisfaction that I'm really taking from it was that it was great to win, but that it was our style of play that has really appealed to the public. That we played football, and that's always been my thing, even going back to the minor team.

Any team that I've been involved with, we play football the right way. And ultimately whether we're good enough or not good enough, that's a different question. But I think we have to stick to that philosophy that we play really really fast football. We kicked 17 points (against Cork), probably could have kicked maybe a bit more, but to kick 17 points, we're nearly going into Christmas time and I think it's fabulous.

I'm very humbled with all the different messages we're after getting, there's a couple of 90-year-olds who rang me as well, and they were in tears. They never thought they'd see the day, to see a Tipperary winning a Munster senior football championship and for me it's a great honour to be leading the ship in many ways.

I really am overwhelmed by all the people that have made contact with us.

Q: The Tipperary footballers wouldn’t traditionally have a big following, but there is a small but very loyal hardcore. The Munster success must mean an awful lot to them.

DP: Absolutely. I suppose we're a kind of a small family in many ways, there's a core group that would be at every Tipp football match. And for the likes of them and people that kept the football flag flying during years when it was hard, when they were down in Division Four, or just keeping the whole thing going. For them, that's what that final was for, ultimately it was for those people that kept football going. For all the previous managers, for all the previous mentors, players, parents, the whole lot. For them it was fabulous.

For the likes of the Friends of Tipperary football, and for the football board, and also the county board. They've all been fantastic, our main sponsors Teneo have been brilliant as well. We're very fortunate that we've got a core group of people that are really behind Tipp football at this moment in time.

And there are other people that want to get involved. I see this for the future generations, that they'll want to play football for Tipperary and that's what I want to see out from this, that primary and secondary school children will all want to play football for Tipperary as well.

I'm not saying we're going to overtake hurling. I'm actually a big believer that if football and hurling can work together in Tipperary that we can be a really powerful unit.

Q: Is it any regret that after the biggest day in Tipperary football’s history in 85 years the team weren’t able to celebrate with those supporters?

DP: For us, for families and friends not to be there, that was really hard going. Ultimately there will come a time and a place that hopefully we can celebrate this victory. But now we have to park this victory. It's about getting ready for the All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo and that's where the players' heads are at as well.

That was the big thing from last night's session. Yes, we're all absolutely thrilled to bits to win a Munster championship, but if we keep going on about the Munster championship going into Friday's session and into Sunday's session, we're going to be there in body on Sunday week (in the All-Ireland semi-final), but mentally and physically we won't be ready.

It's really important for us to park that Munster final win now.

Q: A lot was made of the anniversary of Bloody Sunday coming up to the Munster Final. To what extent would you have been aware of Tipperary’s footballing history?

DP: I would have always, since 1990, I would have been going to every All-Ireland football final and I always looked at the Roll of Honour every year and I'd be saying, my God, Tipperary have more All-Irelands than a lot a lot of counties. We'll say a lot of strong counties, even, now.

I'd be always asking my father how come Tipp were very, very strong back there. For me, and I would have grown up with football in my house, the likes of Hugh Kennedy who was the former football chairman, the likes of Mick Frawley, I would have grown up with football, football.

I would have heard about the history of football back then and that's probably what drove me on to get involved with different development squads. I always had that passion for Tipp football. For us to get back to where it was 100 years ago, last Sunday was the first step. But we've got many, many more steps to get back there and that's what I keep saying, that Tipperary is actually a big enough county that we can compete at both hurling and football at a really, really high level.

Q: How confident are you that Tipperary can raise their game again for the challenge of playing Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final.

DP: I think I said it before the Munster final we are kind of a team that gets better with better opposition. We have some very good players and it was actually incredible, I couldn't get over the odds going into the Munster Final, because we have a lot of players that have won Sigerson Cup medals, have played in an All-Ireland semi-final, that have played in U-21 All-Irelands, have played in All-Ireland minor finals. You name it, there's a huge amount of experience there.

I'm not happy, I want to drive on now. I feel we have an opportunity, like the very same going into the Cork game, if we get a performance I really do think we have a great chance again.

I think we have to use the Munster Final as a kind of a stepping stone. These lads are certainly not happy with just winning a Munster Final, we're looking towards the Mayo game and I think we're going to be going in with really great confidence.

I would say we can go up another level. I wouldn’t call our performance in the Munster Final a perfect performance. Our players are not happy, they feel they can really improve.

I’ll use an example, Steven O’Brien came through a Munster Final when he came into it with an injury and this is where the medical team have done an unbelievable job to get the likes of Steven and Liam Casey out on the field because they had hamstring injuries.

That game will have brought them on over the next two weeks and we can get better.

We have to get better in order to beat Mayo but I feel that performance is in us. I don’t want to be coming out and saying the Cork game was our perfect performance because it wasn’t because I know there is more gears in this Tipperary team.

Q: Cork played quite laterally in the Munster Final and lacked punch in attack. With inside forwards like Cillian O’Connor and Aidan O’Shea, will Mayo present a more direct attacking threat?

DP: I have heard that Cork were too lateral but that was down to us as well to be honest because we were putting so much pressure on them. When Cork had the ball we were getting our half forwards back in around the midfield and the halfback line but there is no point in getting numbers back there, you have to putting the pressure on and the tackles in and that is what we did against Cork and is why they were going lateral.

Cork don’t want to go lateral, they want to be running at you and to be fair to us we got our match-ups right tactically.

Ultimately we are going to have to do something similar again against Mayo because if they are given space with the quality of player they have we are going to be in serious trouble

Q: Mayo have played Division 1 football for the past 23 years. The perception would be that playing at that level for so long would give them an edge in terms of strength and conditioning on a team like Tipperary. Or do you think the run that you are on now can balance that out?

DP: It was probably like the Irish rugby team when they were trying to make the breakthrough, they were always able to give the best teams a game for sixty minutes and then they would die away towards the end. To be fair to us, our conditioning is improving the whole time, we are not there yet and even Robbie Cannon (S&C Coach) would say that. Ultimately when I got this management team together, this was a 3-4 year project for us but we are here now and they are in seriously good shape. For us to have few serious injuries considering we have had five tough games is great credit to our strength & conditioning team and to our medical team to be able to pick from a full panel every day.

“We have the subs to come on as well to help. We have proven that we can go to 75-80 minutes. Obviously Mayo have been in Division 1 for a long time but they have a core group of fellas that have been together for 8-10 years so their conditioning would be ahead of us.

“We have a lot of good players there and ultimately it will come down to the ability with the ball and what we are going to do with it.

Q: If you’re looking at areas in which Tipperary match up well against Mayo then maybe the middle third stands out. Is that an area you will be targeting?

DP: Midfield is always a key battle because if we get onto possession we have a great chance. The two big things I took from the Cork game was we did well in midfield, winning both our kickout and their's, we won a lot of breaking ball and it is going to come down to that kind of game on Sunday as well.

Also the conversion rate is going to be crucial. If we can keep to the standard against Cork where we got a 73% conversion rate in the first half, if we can keep to that standard which is a Division 1 standard, we are going to have a great chance.

Q: Kevin Fahey was outstanding at centre-back against Cork. Has he come of age as an inter-county footballer?

DP: Going back to my time as a minor manager, he was U16 back in 2011. I remember there was a lot of soccer teams after him and I remember calling up to his house and said, 'Look would you come into the extended panel with the 2011 team'. He always had that ability. I don't know for some reason over the last couple of years, I'll be honest I could never understand why he wasn't on the football team on a more consistent basis but this year he's found his role at number six and he's been incredible.

If he keeps performing, he's going to get more bigger honours for himself I feel because he's at that level. For him, I'll never forget what he did last Sunday. He came over to me after the second water break and he says, 'Davy, I think you'd better take me off, I'm on my last warning.' He was on that yellow card and he was at centre-back. For me it just showed me how much of a team player he was as well. If it was about himself he wouldn't have said that.

It was tough taking off a fella that was playing so bloody well but we couldn't take that risk, we couldn't go down to 14 men because that ultimately would give Cork that kind of momentum to get back into the game. For him to do that just shows how selfless he is. I'm just delighted for him because I would always have been a big believer in Kevin Fahey and that he's really shown his true ability now as well.

Q: Your captain Conor Sweeney spoke very well after the Munster Final and seem to be already focused on the All-Ireland semi-final. He’s an impressive leader, isn’t he?

DP: I can't say enough about Conor Sweeney. Not only is he a good player, he's a great leader to the young fellas. Even last night he was the first player out on the field with the 20 footballs, back practicing. That's the type of player he is. He's a very humble individual, it's all about the team with him, everything is about the team, it's not about the individual and obviously he performed to a really, really high level. But he would always say that's because of the team, it's because of the quality of the ball that was going into him.

So, look, he's been a fantastic leader. I suppose he was captain for the first time last year in 2019 and the season for one reason or another just didn't go right for him. Because he's given so much to Tipp football, it always in my head that I would love to have Conor Sweeney leading Tipperary again in 2020. I'm just delighted for him. Every bit of praise that he gets, he's after earning it.

Q: The Pairc Ui Chaoimh pitch seemed to suit Tipperary’s expansive style of play in the Munster Final. Are you looking forward to now playing on a similar pitch in Croke Park?

DP: Croke Park won’t hold any fear for Tipperary. The last two occasions Tipp have played Mayo in 2018 in the qualifier in Thurles, Mayo got a very fortunate goal that day and Tipp were leading the whole way up to that goal so there’s have been a few small things that went in Mayo’s favour over the last two games so Croke Park won’t hold any fear, I think we can really grow into Croke Park and the players like playing there.

We are fortunate that we played on a surface in Pairc Ui Chaoimh that is similar to Croke Park as well.

Q: None of your players will lack for motivation, but Robbie Kiely will surely be especially keen to make his mark on this game having been black-carded in the 2016 All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo?

DP: I remember reading an article after that Tipp-Mayo game and he said that his parents had come up to the game and his brother Damien was after flying back from Australia. For the likes of him, I am really, really, he has this opportunity now to turn things around. Obviously there probably won't be any crowd at our game on Sunday week and that his family won't be there but it gives him an opportunty that probably he mightn't have thought that he would get. I know he's already hungry for it because he was actually talking about it last night. He's got that drive and again he's another player that has given so much to Tipperary football over the last number of years, so it's great for him to be able to get that opportunity.

Q: When you factor in the bounce the team will get from winning Munster, the high level of experience the panel now has, and the fact that they’ve already played in an All-Ireland semi-final, is it fair to say that Tipperary will never be better set for an All-Ireland semi-final as they are for this one?

DP: Absolutely. We don't have to worry about the Croke Park factor, for example. All of them have basically played in Croke Park. I'd say the only fella who hasn't played in Croke Park and started last Sunday is probably Conal Kennedy. Everyone else has experienced Croke Park, whether it was with the minors or the seniors in 2016. So that's not going to hold back anyone.

I suppose in many ways for Tipperary to be in their second All-Ireland semi-final in five seasons is, I think, huge. But, I suppose, with that gap, consistency is the thing. We're quite capable of beating a Division 2, maybe even a Division 1 team. But then the following weekend we could go out and lose to a Division 4 team. That's the consistency that Tipp must strive for now. We're after setting a marker for ourselves and we must keep going. We can't look back anymore, we must keep going up the League table. Because, ultimately, you have to be playing against better teams if you want to be more successful in championships. Now we're on this run I think we're going to have a great chance on Sunday.

Q: It sounds like you don’t fear the challenge of playing Mayo?

DP: We won’t fear Mayo. I believe in this Tipperary football team that if we get a performance, that we’ll be very close to Mayo come Sunday. There is no point going into a game if you think you are going to be beaten. I certainly don’t think that way and the players based on training last night don’t think that way. If we get a performance we have every chance on Sunday.